Four nights, 200 DJ's & artists, 20 clubs & venues, 25.000 visitors. All in the heart of Amsterdam to make Amsterdam Dance Event, one of Europe's biggest electronic music festivals. Read on for my report on the events I attended...
I was browsing xpander.nl a few months ago, when I came across an ad for something called Amsterdam Dance Event. I clicked the link, and it turned out to be a massive club festival in the heart of Amsterdam, with lots of top notch djs from Holland and abroad spinning in clubs all over town, spread out over 3 days. The lineups whet my appetite so much that I decided to make the trip down. And what an experience it turned out to be. I had never dreamed that it would turn out to be this good. Here’s how my agenda went down:
Day 1
European Dance Event @ Melkweg - Junkie XL (Live), Umek, Murat Uncouglu and DJ Ladida
Arrived in Amsterdam two hours late. The plane got technical difficulties in mid-air and had to return to Oslo Airport, and we had to board another plane in order to get to my destination. So rather delayed, I quickly got to the hotel and installed myself in my room, before making my way to Melkweg.
The Melkweg turned out to be something more than just a club. For this particular evening the venue was bustling with cultural activites. As I got in, DJ Ladida was spinning a nice and funky techno set in the room called The Max, where as in the Old Hall Yonderboi from Mole Listening Pearls was performing live to a quite packed room. Further investigation revealed a live talkshow going on in Café Melkweg next to The Max via dutch radio station 3FM, a gallery with several photographs on display, and an upstairs area where people could use the internet for free. The most interesting thing however was the cinema at the top of the venue. A full set of short films was going on repeat, and it showed some of the most bizarre things I’ve ever come across in my entire life. It included a short period of footage from Fuck Parade 2002 (gabber anti-Loveparade movement), a documentary of a punk gang’s activites while driving around Holland for concerts, a severely bizarre animated movie and a finnish movie of a guy walking his penguin around town. Bizarre, yet very fascinating. I stayed in the cinema for a while, but soon it was time to head down to The Max, as Junkie XL’s live PA was just about to start.
I arrived as Murat Uncouglu was just finishing his set, and the crowd was shaking along nicely to his bouncy progressive tunes. Soon however, Junkie XL stepped up to the specially designed booth below the actual DJ booth in the shape of the Junkie XL logo. I had my doubts about how “live” this would be, considering how much playback the man had done before, but it seemed to be pretty live this time around, as he tweaked the sounds of his tracks to insane proportions, extended and rearranged track segments on the fly and generally added that “live” feeling to his tunes. And it sure went down well. Tracks like Beauty Never Fades, Breezer and Syntax - Pray (Junkie XL Remix) received rapturous responses from the crowd, and the man himself knew how to fire the crowd up. The fact that he was playing to his home crowd was not to his disadvantage either to say the least. By the time Red Pill, Blue Pill came squelching out of the speakers and pounced with it’s rapid-fire percussion, Tom had them in the palm of his hand. That made the rather gimmicky remix of Beastie Boys - Fight For Your Right that he played at the end so much easier to forgive.
After thanking the crowd for the third time, the Slovenian techno hero Umek stepped up to the decks. Unfortunately, a lot of people had already started leaving, so I was afraid of how this would turn out. Luckily, just enough people left the floor in order to make the dancing space just right, while at the same time creating a good mood. And Umek did not disappoint. His trademarked hard yet funky techno style gave the crowd’s feet a serious workout, and coupled with Umek’s insane EQ shenanigans things got even wilder. Apart from a slight down period with some rather dull tunes (his needle skipped as well), it was hard, bangin’ and funky all the way, and perfect for dancing.
At 04:00 Umek took his last record off the deck. The crowd’s repeated chant for one more record was in vain, so I headed out of the Melkweg, knowing that Amsterdam Dance Event had gotten off to a good start.
Tracks played (all lists incomplete and in no particular order unless noted otherwise)
Junkie XL Angels Don’t Wake Up The Policeman Syntax - Pray (Junkie XL Remix) Breezer Dave Gahan - Dirty Sticky Floors (Junkie XL Remix) BT - Simply Being Loved (Junkie XL Remix) Beauty Never Fades Blue Pill, Red Pill Beastie Boys - Fight For Your Right (unreleased Junkie XL Remix)
Umek Umek - Voices Of Africa 04
Day 2
Armada Night @ Mazzo - Armin van Buuren, Markus Schulz & Harry Lemon
Mazzo turned out to be an exclusive and classy club, but thanks to Ian aka Redeye with his connections @ Anna Agency, I managed to get in without much hassle. The bouncers were friendly, and the club itself had a very classy feel to it, loved the couches and the plants, and the DJ booth's oldschool desk-theme was a very nice change. Cool to have it as close as it was too, it definitely added to the immense atmosphere that would emerge as the evening progressed.
Harry Lemon opened the night with a solid set of smooth progressive tunes, although he did get the rather ungrateful job of playing the warmup slot, which meant almost no crowd whatsoever to begin with. That however, changed when Origene - Sanctuary (Harry Lemon Remix) came on. After the first few minutes of its fierce drive more and more people slowly but surely started dancing, and Harry noticed and kept increasing the funkiness, along with a few more mellow moments, like Portishead - Roads (Sultan & The Greek Remix). Thus, the floor was getting increasingly packed as his set intensified, and was almost completely full by the time he handed the controls to the star of the evening, Armin van Buuren.
Since I had never seen Armin live before, I was excited, however his latest sets have bored the hell out of me, so my expectations were not that high. It started off great though. Tracks like Roland Klinkenberg - Monday Groove, P.Diddy - Let's Get Ill / Roland Klinkenberg - Melting Point and several other hard and funky progressive tunes went down a treat with the responsive and up for it audience, and I was bouncing around quite happily to Armin's fierce beats. The intimacy of the booth added to the overall atmosphere, especially with a crowd interaction like Armin's. After a while Armin went over to his trancy side, and unfortunately that's where I lost interest. The tracks just wouldn't do it for me, just like I was afraid of before I came there. It was very nice to hear (and sing along to) Andain - Beautiful Things (Gabriel & Dresden's Unplugged Mix) and Katana - Tribal Shock though.
After Armin was done Markus was up, but I was so exhausted after dancing my feet off to Armin and Harry that I didn't have much energy left. However, Markus layed down a great set, lots of melodic progressive (Chable & Bonnici - Ride) spiced up with the odd techy house tune (Agoria - La Onzieme Marché (Phil Kieran Remix)), which forced me back on the floor to use my last energy reserves for dancing. We were also priviledged with some live vocals on top of Karada - Last Flight (Markus Schulz’s Return To Coldharbour Mix), which was a nice surprise.
But as my energy wore off, I decided to call it a night since I had two more days to go. Managed to have a quick chat with Harry Lemon before I left (really nice guy), and among other things I found out that his next tune will be a lot more techy than usual, so look out for that one.
I left the Mazzo with another smile on my face, acknowledging the fact that yet another night of Amsterdam Dance Event had been very much successful.
Tracks played:
Lemon 8 Indigo Child - Take A Breath Of You Origene - Sanctuary (Lemon 8 Remix) Panoptic - Surface Insight - Prophecy (Innate & Moor Dub) Portishead - Roads (Sultan & The Greek Remix) Telepopmusik - Breathe (Markus Schulz Remix)
Armin van Buuren Nathan Fake - Outhouse Sarah McLachlan - Fallen (Gabriel & Dresden Remix) Roland Klinkenberg - Monday Groove P.Diddy - Let's Get Ill (Accapella) / Roland Klinkenberg - Melting Point Mr. Sam & Fred Baker - Forever Waiting /Andain - Summer Calling (Accapella) Andain - Beautiful Things (Gabriel & Dresden’s Unplugged Mix) Mirco de Govia - Aura Indigo Mr. Sam vs Tim Coltrane pres. Tribute - One More Day Electric Boutique feat. Taz - Heal (Instrumental) Three Drives - Signs Of The Universe Katana - Tribal Shock Locust - Mind Circles
Markus Schulz (complete tracklisting, thanks to the good people @ Tranceaddict.com) Markus Schulz pres. Elevation - Clear Blue Attention Deficit - What? Luke Chable & Danny Bonnici - Ride Piece Process- Solar Myth (Markus Schulz Remix) Agoria - La 11è Marche (Phil Kieran Remix) Oceanlab - Satellite (Markus Schulz Remix) Karada - Last Flight (Markus Schulz Remix) Camouflage - You And Me (Humate Mix) Peter Martin - Perfect Wave Markus Schulz - You Won't See Me Cry (Schulz & Dresden Remix) Motorcycle - As The Rush Comes (Markus Schulz Coldharbour Remix) Locust - Kubik Lili Haydn - Anything (Gabriel & Dresden’s E-String Mix) Mauro Picotto - New Time New Place ID Jewel - Intuition (Markus Schulz Coldharbour Remix) Jewel - Stand (Markus Schulz Coldharbour Remix)
Day 3
High Quality 100 Part 2 @ Melkweg - Tom Harding, DJ Scot Project, BK, Steve Hill, Danny D, Ade Fenton, Ben Long and Langue de Groovedealer
The Melkweg was absolutely rammed when I arrived around 23:00 (it kicked off at 22:00), which unfortunately made it too hard for me to dance properly on the dancefloor. The Gallery was a good substitute though, with a very nice overview of the boiling dancefloor and the dj booth. Insane lightshow as well, especially the laser worked incredibly well as it was attached to the roof in a shower spreading style instead of shooting out of the dj booth.
Arriving at The Max, Steve Hill was spinning his usual blend of UK hard house and hard trance, and while the crowd enjoyed it, his tune selection certainly wasn’t to my liking. I therefore decided to head over to the Old Hall to see what the music was like over there.
And what a surprise I was in for. As I walked into the Old Hall, I was greeted by the fierce groove of Pascal F.E.O.S - I Can Feel That blasting out of the speakers, which made it almost impossible for me to stand still. Behind the decks stood Langue de Groovedealer, and he was serving up a firing techy set, full of funky basslines and fierce beats, coupled with solid mixing and EQ work. I Can Feel That’s insane bassline drew people to the dancefloor like a magnet, and soon Langue had gathered a nice crowd shakin’ it in on the floor in front of him, and he duly kept on feeding them with one fiercely funked up tech tune after another, forcing them to keep moving, while more and more people came flooding onto the floor to enjoy his tunes. This was exactly what proper DJing was all about. No living off a big name, no hype, just letting the music speak for itself, which sadly isn’t that common any longer in dance music as we know it today. That’s why it was so refreshing to see how well Langue performed, and how well it worked, despite the fact that he was still relatively unknown.
As Langue finished his set, it was time to head over to The Max again, where the german hard trance champion Scot Project was just about to start. I have to admit that in my opinion he has hit somewhat of a creative slump, and his productions and sets haven’t appealed that much to me recently. His set this evening seemed to lack a real flow and structure, and all the offbeat basslines made it slightly monotonous at times, but the mixing was solid, and feeling the stomping kick drums of Arome - Visions Of Paradize and Tiesto - Traffic (Max Walder Mix) had a very cleansing effect on me. Despite Scot’s rather different style from the other DJs that played in The Max that night, his set was well received, and I did enjoy most of the tunes he played.
After Scot Project was done, BK took over the decks. I however went back to the Old Hall, where Advanced Recs. representative Ade Fenton had picked up where Langue left off, with furious techno beats pounding out of the speakers from the very start. My expectations towards him were quite high after high quality productions like Move 2 It and We Continual, but he did not disappoint at all as a DJ. Playing a hard yet extremely varied set that went across a very wide spectrum of techno sounds, and with mixing skills that blew my socks off, I couldn’t help but be awed by the sheer power as one fierce techno record after another got banged out with clinical precision in the transitions, not to mention Ade’s rapid-fire fader juggling and clever usage of the FX unit. Respect!
Ben Long was next up in the Old Hall when Ade was done, but around that time HQ resident Tom Harding (which I looked most forward to that evening) was about to start his set, so I quickly ran over to The Max again, excited to hear what he had in store for the people at Melkweg this evening. But what I was about to hear was better than I had ever imagined. From the opening with classic HQ tunes to more recent material like his remix of Underworld - Cowgirl, Tom grabbed the crowd from the first beat and took them for a wild ride through frenetic, bouncy grooves, searing synths and fierce basslines. Anthems like Vincent de Moor - Flowtation (Mr.Bishi Remix) and BK & Nick Sentience - Flash sent the crowd into solid frenzies between the furious grooves, and it seemed like the entire The Max was moving to the music in one way or another, on the floor, in the gallery, at the bar, on the podium, everywhere. By the time K90 - Into The Future came blasting out of the speakers with a +6 pitch injection, there was absolutely no going back. Tom kept shaking The Max to the bone with one banger after another, and coupled with his big enthusiasm behind the decks and superb crowd interaction, there was no way this could go wrong.
After a banging encore record, things ended mercilessly at 06:00. Rather shaky I made my way to the exit, even more impressed with Amsterdam Dance Event than the night before, which I never thought would have been possible.
Tracks played:
Steve Hill DJ Scot Project - R (Rock) / Tomcraft - Loneliness (Accapella) Kontakt - Show Me A Sign (Instrumental)
Langue de Groovedealer Pascal F.E.O.S - I Can Feel That
DJ Scot Project Arome - Visions Of Paradize Thomas Rubin - Cold Night (DJ Scot Project Remix) Hennes & Cold - Can’t Have Enough Tiesto - Traffic (Max Walder Mix) Tomcraft - Brainwashed (DJ Choose & F’s That Mucho Remix) DJ Scot Project - R (Rock) DJ Scot Project - W (That Sound) Nightclub - French Kiss (DJ Scot Project Remix) Yoji Biomehanika - Ding-A-Ling (DJ Scot Project Remix)
BK Paul Glazby - Heavy Music
Ade Fenton DJ Deeon - Shake What Your Momma Gave Ya Sven Wittekind - Whistle
Tom Harding Vincent de Moor - Flowtation (Mr.Bishi Remix) K90 - Into The Future Marco V - Indicator (Scott Mac Mix) Underworld - Cowgirl (Tom Harding Remix) BK & Nick Sentience - Flash
Day 4
X-Qlusive Germany @ Heineken Music Hall - Kai Tracid, Hennes & Cold, Gary D, Uberdruck, Melanie di Tria, Cosmic Commando +++
For my final evening in Amsterdam, I decided to head outside of the Amsterdam Dance Event program, to Q-Dance’s german hard trance bash in Heineken Music Hall. Q-Dance had brought in a stunning lineup of some of Germany’s finest hard trance heroes for this event, and it was perfectly timed for me to get some serious hard trance action to finish my trip with.
I had bad luck to start off with though. Heineken Music Hall is located somewhat outside of Amsterdam centre, and I had no experience with those parts whatsoever. Of course, this led to me getting off on the wrong subway station, wasting almost an hour of partying time. By the time I had gotten past the queue and handed in my jacket to the wardrobe, I had missed Hennes & Cold, one of the definite highlights for me personally on the lineup. Kai Tracid had just started his set as I arrived in the main hall, which was already getting quite crowded. The atmosphere was everything but good though, as people seemed to be more occupied with talking and drinking rather than dancing, and the constant flow of people into the hall kept interrupting my dancing, and at the end I got so irritated about it that I stopped dancing and just enjoyed the music instead.
Before we get to that part though, let me praise Q-Dance for excellent preparations. The lasers and lights were dazzling as they shot out from the booth out of huge rigs and criss-crossed across the audience to a rather splendid effect, real eye-candy. The bass was pumping nicely, yet without getting too loud, and the rotating DJ booth was a nice touch, which allowed the DJ to get a much better outlook over the entire crowd, and the crowds all around to get a good look at the DJ and the booth itself. Well done!
Musically, this turned out to be a good night as well, if not as good as the previous ones, for which the atmosphere was largely to blame. Kai Tracid played a good set, and although I was slightly disappointed to hear the same old Tracid Traxxx-hitparade again (Warmduscher - Hardcore Will Never Die, Kai Tracid - Trance & Acid, Derb - Derb (Arome Mix)), it still had a nice energy to it, and Kai seemed to enjoy himself up there. He also provided me with a very nice rendezvous with A*S*Y*S - Acid Headcracker (303 Inferno Mix), which was one of the highlights of the evening for me personally. After Kai, Arne L2 (Phonetic Recs.) & Mirko Milano (of Stopp & Go-fame) took over the decks, but their trackselection was way too simplistic and dull to my ears, so I decided to take a closer look around Heineken Music Hall to see what it had to offer.
It was quite impressive to see what Q-Dance had lined up for the X-Qlusive visitors this evening. In the huge corridors of the arena many different types of stores were set up all around, selling everything from alcohol, food, merchandise and cyber articles. Upstairs there was also an area with binoculars to get good view of the HMH, and free internet access for those who wanted to check out the latest news in the scene or the timetable for the event itself. Thanks to this I found out that one of my favourite hard trance duos, Uberdruck (Dirk Northroff and David Rzenno), were spinning upstairs on a smaller floor. As Arne L2 and Mirko Milano weren’t to my liking, I made my way upstairs to see what Uberdruck had to offer as DJs, since I only had knowledge of their productions so far.
It turned out to be an extremely smart move. When I got upstairs Uberdruck were already pounding it out quite nicely, and I finally got the dancing space I needed to enjoy myself thoroughly. The set consisted almost exclusively of Uberdruck’s own productions, which sadly made the set itself suffer from slight monotony, but it also showed that Uberdruck’s hard trance sound has many different influences, and it was very easy to hear that as Dirk and David mixed their way nicely through a serious chunk of their own discography, spiced up with the odd techno tune as the set allowed it (I.e. DK - Murder Was The Bass, which finally came to it’s right for me on a massive sound system). Tunes like Drugface - Cuntmaster (DJ Shredda Mix) , Rayden - I Know Ur Waiting (Uberdruck Mix) and Uberdruck - Fat Ass Fuck forced the crowd to keep moving at a ferocious pace, and with my 3 previous days of full on partying I struggled to keep up for a little while, since my energy wasn’t at its fullest. However, the tunes were so good that I forced myself to keep going, and as the first pounding kicks of Thomas Rubin - Cold Night (DJ Scot Project Remix) came blasting out of the speakers mid-set, I knew it was worth it. Even the rather passive and non-responsive crowd could not resist this tune, and coupled with Dirk and David’s good crowd interaction, a nice amount of hands came up as the evil synths lashed out fiercely once again. However, nothing beat the reponse that came when the first ”throw your hands up in the aaaaaiir…” echoed through the room. Yup, it was Arome - Hands Up, and it was instantly recognized by the crowd and given the proper noise. While I must admit that I am no particular fan of this track, just seeing the response this track got made me forget all that in an instant, and the infectious vocals sample wiped away all the criticisms I had had towards the track before I had heard it live. It was a proper moment of dancefloor ecstasy, and I enjoyed it as long as I could.
Uberdruck finished a few records later, and Nightbass DJ Team took over the decks. I made my way out of the room, with ears, feet and body being severely battered from Uberdruck’s relentless hardness, yet feeling very good inside after some moments of pure insanity. I realized that there was no way I had the energy to keep on dancing after this, as much as I wanted to catch the rest of Melanie di Tria in the main room, who was laying down a solid set from what I caught of it.
After watching Melanie from the balcony a little while longer, I decided to pick up my coat and get a taxi back to the hotel, as my tiredness was steadily increasing as time went by. What looked like a disappointment at first turned out to be yet another amazing night for me personally, and I left Heineken Music Hall extremely drained for energy, yet very happy to have been a part of X-Qlusive Germany.
Tracks played:
Kai Tracid Kai Tracid - Conscious A*S*Y*S - Acid Headcracker (303 Inferno Mix) Tiesto - Traffic Warmduscher - Hardcore Will Never Die (Derb Remix) Mauro Picotto - Lizard Kai Tracid - Trance & Acid (Derb Remix) Kai Tracid - Trance & Acid (Original Mix) DK - Murder Was The Bass Derb - Derb (Arome Mix) Arome - Visions Of Paradize
Uberdruck Uberdruck - Fat Ass Fuck Uberdruck - Bloody Slut DK - Murder Was The Bass Rayden - I Know Ur Waiting (Uberdruck Mix) Drugface - Cuntmaster (DJ Shredda Mix) Arome - Hands Up! (DJ Scot Project Remix) Thomas Rubin - Cold Night (DJ Scot Project Remix)
Melanie di Tria Yakooza - French Kiss (DJ Scot Project Remix)
Conclusion: I was extremely lucky to come across the ad for Amsterdance Dance Event. If I hadn’t clicked it I would have missed out on one of the best clubbing experiences of my life. All the events I attended turned out to be one hell of an experience, and along with the new people I met, I can easily say that this has been one of the absolute highlights of the year for me. Looking forward to next year already!
Jan
Big thanks to Chris for the photographs, Ian (Redeye), Ian^, Optimus @ Tranceaddict.com, NLTA, Anna @ Anna Agency, Maykel @ Armada and Edward @ THinc Management. My trip would never have been this good without you guys.
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